Harlem Success Charter leader: “I’m not a big believer in special ed"

[madfloridian]

And that is not all he said about those with learning disabilities or problems. This is truly alarming.

From the New York Daily News:

The Patron Saint (and Scourge) of Lost Schools

Based on available statistics, however, charter schools have fewer of these families, including the poorest of the poor. One problem with “school choice,” as writer-activist Jonathan Kozol noted, is that the “ultimate choices” tend to get made “by those who own or operate a school.” At stake is not just who gets in, but who stays in. Studies show “selective attrition” in the KIPP chain, among others, with academic stragglers—including those seen as disruptive or in need of pricey services—leaving in greater numbers. In one flagrant local example, East New York Preparatory discharged 48 students shortly before last year’s tests, among them seven poor-scoring third-graders. (Citing financial mismanagement, the Department of Education plans to revoke the school’s charter in June.)

At Harlem Success, disability is a dirty word. “I’m not a big believer in special ed,” Fucaloro says. For many children who arrive with individualized education programs, or IEPs, he goes on, the real issues are “maturity and undoing what the parents allow the kids to do in the house—usually mama—and I reverse that right away.” When remediation falls short, according to sources in and around the network, families are counseled out. “Eva told us that the school is not a social-service agency,” says the Harlem Success teacher. “That was an actual quote.”

In one case, says a teacher at P.S. 241, a set of twins started kindergarten at the co-located HSA 4 last fall. One of them proved difficult and was placed on a part-time schedule, “so the mom took both of them out and put them in our school. She has since put the calm sister twin back in Harlem Success, but they wouldn’t take the boy back. We have the harder, troubled one; they have the easier one.”

Harlem Success schools have the added benefit of the close friendship of their founder Eva Moskowitz and the school chancellor, Joel Klein.

Harlem charter school head emails show very special access to NY school chancellor


Lombard for News
Success Charter Network founder Eva Moskowitz and NYC Chancellor Joel Klein sharing a laugh during an event.

On Oct. 3, 2008, Eva Moskowitz, a former city councilwoman and head of four charter schools in Harlem, e-mailed schools Chancellor Joel Klein for help. Moskowitz wanted more space to expand her Harlem Success academies and she had two specific public school buildings in mind.

"Those schools are ps194 and ps241," she wrote to Klein. "It would be extremely helpful to move quickly on."

Less than two months later, the Department of Education announced plans to phase out those schools and use the space to expand two Harlem Success academies.

..."The note was among 125 e-mails between Moskowitz and the chancellor the Daily News obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

In spite of the school's view toward the disabled student, they get good treatment from the NY school authorities.

Anything for test scores, even denying that there are children with disabilities and handicaps. Zero tolerance.

Perhaps the most upsetting statement from the NY Daily News article is one by Eva Moskowitz:

“Eva told us that the school is not a social-service agency,” says the Harlem Success teacher. “That was an actual quote.”

Public schools take all students. They can not sit back and have the luxury of denying the existence of problems in learning.

Public schools must address the needs of all children.

Public schools ARE Social-Service agencies, in every way.

[tbyg52]

1. What you said - schools *are* social-service agencies - what else???

Oh, and - somebody unrecced this?????

[madfloridian]

2. Always happens.

I expect it and don't worry about it.

[tbyg52]

4. Well, I hate to see it maybe not make the greatest, where it should be. Kick. nt

[daylan b]

3. And it happens again if you mention it...

[madfloridian]

7. Yes, it is like a contest.

To make sure an education post has trouble getting recced. That is just how it is.

[daylan b]

9. it's not the post, it's the internet

[madfloridian]

10. Yes, that well could be.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

5. Wow. How does someone that stupid get into such a position of power.

That's disgusting.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. It's scary

This guy is worshiped by many administrators and teachers.

[EFerrari]

25. Are you serious?

You know, I never watched "Road Warrior" but lately I'm thinking I should, just to bone up on survival skills. :(

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Yes

His concept is wonderful. There isn't an educator in America who doesn't believe in educating the whole child. I have been working in a community full service school for many years and I love it.

But I sense a power trip desire to control these children's lives in Harlem and that's just downright evil.

[madfloridian]

6. Moskowitz seems unaware of her school's attitude toward disabilities.

More from the article:

"Moskowitz doesn’t buy the self-selection premise. The children in proximate zoned schools, she insists, “are the same kids we have.” She notes that Success floods the neighborhood with glossy oversize brochures (six pieces per household, at a cost of more than $300,000 per year), and that two of three eligible Harlem families actually fill one out. “Zoned schools say, ‘We have families from domestic-violence shelters’—so do we,” Moskowitz says. “They’ve got families in blah-blah situations—so do we.”

But they apparently don't have to keep them? :shrug:

Oh, BTW, that is most likely taxpayer money paying for those glossy brochures that flood the neighborhoods. Public schools don't have money to advertise like that.

[tbyg52]

8. You get public money, you should have the same requirements for students you accept

and the same accountability requirements as public schools. But with charter schools, "innovation" seems to mean "no accountability."

[Dappleganger]

11. How ignorant can one be?

This one is taking that to a whole 'nuther level.

:banghead:

[SoCalDem]

12. Of COURSE he's not.

:grr:

students with special needs cost school districts a LOT of money, and when you are running a "for-profit school", it's the bottom line that matters.

If you believe in public education for ALL children, the goal should be to educate them..not to turn a good 1st quarter profit.

These "educators" base the fees for their services, on test scores, so they have to carefully select and "cull" their students at times, to make sure the scores look good.

[madfloridian]

13. Very well said.

Excellent rant.

:applause:

[Starry Messenger]

14. Good comment from the first article.

Harlem success charter school bullies and intidmidates parents of special needs students into leaving the school. They call parents 5 to 6 times a day about their child in an attempt to break them down so the parent will fold and remove the child from their school. They trump up the accusations against special needs students and constantly suspended them from school. These students only get 1 maybe 2 days in schools because the "so called leaders" keep suspending them. If a teacher tries to help a "special needs" students they get moved out of that class and reassigned to another classroom and threatened to be fired. Special needs students deserve quality education too. They need acceptance, love, tolerance, understanding and most importantly educators who care about them. If we fail to educated these group of kids, you better believe these same types of kids will grow up to prey upon us for survival. So even though they kick them out of their school, these children will become everyones problem if we give up on them and fail to educated them. Harlem success engages in a lot of discriminatory practices and something needs to be done about it. Moskowitz is only interested in those students who fall into place with limited problems. By Harlemsfinest on 05/11/2010 at 3:22 pm

I've never seen any of the charter supporters here who smack-talk public schools tell us their solution to this issue with "dumping" kids back into the public school system. The public schools are "failing" in part because the odds are so skewed. How is that being addressed in "education reform"?

[madfloridian]

15. Denying there are special needs children, harassing the parents..

until they take them out.

And they get taxpayer money to do that?

Absolutely alarming.

[madfloridian]

17. Even Bloomberg "performed" at Harlem Charter Night.

http://gothamschools.org/2009/03/19/mayoral-control-obama-unseen-stars-at-harlem-charter-night/

"Mayor Bloomberg and Lil Mama cheered charter schools, school choice, and mayoral control of the public schools before a crowd of thousands of parents and students last night.

The mayor and the rapper even shared some tactics. “Do we want more parent choice?” Mayor Bloomberg yelled. “I can’t hear you! Do we want more competition? Do we want better test scores and higher graduation rates?”

Lil Mama was more successful with the call-and-response style. She called “Parent” while the crowd screamed back, “Choice!” “You don’t have to send your child to a regular public school,” the Harlem native said before performing two of her hits, “G-Slide” and “Lip Gloss.” “You can send them to a public charter school.”

Also there were We Love Obama buttons.

Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children’s Zone, plus Joel Klein:

"President Obama was the unseen star of the show. Organizers passed out buttons saying “Obama (heart) Charters,” and Canada played a video clip of the president’s recent education speech, where he declared that caps on charter schools are not ”good for our children our economy or our country.”

Chancellor Joel Klein declared that charter schools can deliver on the promise of Brown v. Board of Education. “Unless you are willing to stand up and fight and support public charter schools and parental choice so that every kid has an opportunity for the American dream, we will never, ever be the country we want to be,” he said."

[tonysam]

18. What a bunch of shit.

Abandoning a system of public education of over a century and a half is downright fucking un-American.

I am OUTRAGED so-called "Democrats" support Republican ideas for education.

[Dinger]

19. Thank You For Posting This madfloridian

I for one ain't takin' arne's bullshit laying down. I'm just not.

[madfloridian]

21. Denying special needs students to keep test scores high...

It is ridiculous. I wonder how many Democratic leaders are even paying attention to the utter idiocy they have unleashed with their privatization.

[Brickbat]

20. "Families are counseled out." How convenient.

[Catshrink]

22. It's taxpayer funded segregation.

[Dinger]

23. There's A Slick Little Thing Called RTI (Response To Intervention) Which

is a slick way of eliminating special ed programming, and delaying for 18 months real intervention for kids who need it. We were told at a staff meeting that even in the case of an autistic child, we need to document for a year and a half before we can refer a child so they can be evaluated, and maybe, just maybe, special ed staff can help that child learn.

[madfloridian]

24. When I was teaching we were told not to refer any with suspected autism.

Not even bother to refer them. They were at one time discouraging referring those with emotional problems, and we were not to say the words learning disability out loud.

It changed pretty much from year to year. The left hand right hand syndrome...neither knew what was happening.

[Odin2005]

31. Wow, I have an IQ of 135 and considered "Gifted", but my autism diqualifies me?

Bastards! :grr:

[tonysam]

30. +1,000

The REAL goal of RTI is to get rid of most special education teachers as they are too expensive. The vast majority of sped teachers are "resource teachers" rather than teachers who work with students with more serious cognitive/physical problems or who work with students with serious behavior problems. Resource teachers work primarily with students who are "learning disabled" specifically in reading and math. When I was working at WCSD, elimination of sped jobs was a real concern of teachers.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. I don't like RTI at all

For the very reasons you stated. It's just a formal way of saving money on educating kids with disabilities.

Then when they finally do qualify for sped they are even farther behind.

[Dinger]

48. Exactly (nt)

[madfloridian]

26. Did Moskowitz tell students an untruth about what Klein said?

Someone needs to separate these two. I want to say did she lie, but that is not acceptable here.

This is from Norm at Education Notes Online:

http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2010/05/edit-draft-ps-241harlem-success-klein.html

"Hello all-
I am reaching out to you after reaching some deeply troubling information.

This morning as I welcomed students into the building, one of my fourth grade students approached me with a look of anger on her face. She has been with us since she was in Pre-K and feels very strongly about our school and the community. Her brother is a first grader currently attending HSA 1. She has been outspoken that she believes he is not being properly educated- her words, not mine. She hears her family complain as well, and implores them to take him out and let him enjoy school with her, at PS 241- again her words- not mine.

She stated that she had attended a Harlem Success Academy event last night at the Apollo (The Lottery?), during which Eva Moskowitz spoke. Eva stated that Joel Klein had told her that PS 241 students had failed their Gr. 8 ELA exams and he was going to shut down our school.

Scoring of ELA exams is still in process, the state has not yet received all manually-scored information- nor has it had time to determine final scores. How could Klein have this information? He can't- he must have lied- or Eva lied and is spreading misinformation- slandering our school (and others such as PS 194 and PS 123- according to my young, articulate source).

Klein and Moskowitz must be called to task on this- we must speak out against the lies, the slander, the coersion, the audacity of this kind of misinformation. Please stand together with us to defned our public schools. Make phone calls, send emails, what ever can be done to let the public know this outrage- this is sabotage and outright looting of our school buildings and communities!

[madrchsod]

27. this happened in the public school system my friend works for.

they took all the "low performing" elementary kids and moved them to one school to "save" the other 4. now they cut her music classes and she`s teaching english and math.

it`s just getting worse....

[MellowDem]

28. If you've worked in schools of low-income...

poverty areas, you would know why disability and IEPs are a dirty word. Many times, most of the students have no learning disability at all. They just have behavioral problems, and because of that, are thrown in with kids that do have actual learning disorders. It is why low-income schools have insanely high IEP rates compared to higher income schools. It's a huge problem, because not only are the kids that have behavioral problems now being basically abandoned and their actual problems not addressed, but the actual IEP students and their teachers have a much harder time because of the disruption of the classroom.

Schools are not parents, and that is the big, big problem. In many low-income areas, the environment at home can be pretty bad to say the least. Parenting and the home environment is a huge, huge part of education, perhaps the biggest factor, one that schools have no real control over. So the issue becomes discipline in the classroom.

[madfloridian]

32. I taught in one of the most challenging schools in the city.

For 8 years. I have taught children with behavioral problems that affected learning, but I also taught many true learning disabled. I taught two brothers severely so before they ever coined the learning disability term. IQs in the very high 100s....talking 160 and 170. Brilliant in math completely unable to read.

Through the years I taught some who had combinations of all of the disabilities. Some responded to medication, some did not.

There are most definitely children in schools who need the special classes and teachers with special skills who are trained.

For a charter school to deny there are such things is absolutely unforgivable.

[MellowDem]

68. I don't deny that at all...

but the system is sometimes abused or not used properly, unfortunately.

[ecstatic]

41. +1000

[Odin2005]

29. This Autistic person says FUCK YOU, Ms. Moskowitz!

:grr:

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. ..

:thumbsup:

[BolivarianHero]

35. This guy heads a school?

He's completely oblivious to a century's worth of knowledge in pretty much every social science. He makes a Freeper look like a Neanderthal.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

36. “Eva told us that the school is not a social-service agency,”

I have no problem with that statement, much of the problems faced by schools is that they are forced into rolls that are both inappropriate and they are ill suited to perform, there need to be educational opportunities for everyone, but jamming everyone from hardened criminals to the severely disabled into one system serves nobody adequately, least of all the extreme majority of students.

I know several people who quit teaching in public schools for this very reason, they are teachers not social workers, parole officers or nurses.

[madfloridian]

37. There are arrangements made within the public school systems

for the ones you mention.

It is the charter schools who are NOT liking special ed.

I was a little bit of everything, teacher, part-time parent, informal counselor, friend, buddy, and tough guy.

I loved it all.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

38. There is nothing wrong with not being all things to all people,

The statement is "the school is not a social-service agency" and that is a perfectly reasonable statement for all schools of all kinds.

[madfloridian]

39. Charter schools leave the hard cases to public schools.

Thus the public school becomes all things to all people.

You and I just differ on this. There is more to education than just teaching facts and words.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

42. that shouldn't be the role of the public school either

But I won't fault alternate schools for not volunteering to emulate a disaster,

Nobody is arguing against "Free Appropriate Public Education" but the way in which it is being provided in public schools is hardly an example to be used by others.

[madfloridian]

44. They are taking money from public schools and giving it to....

the schools that manage to avoid having the problem kids.

That is not fair...defunding while demanding more is a recipe for failure. That of course is the intention of the Bush/Obama plan. Once the public schools can't survive....they are handed over to private companies to run.

I do fault "alternate" schools. They get our tax money, let them teach our children...all of them.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

45. and what about?

Public magnet schools with selective admission or single gender public schools? Should they be forced to take all comers just by virtue of receiving tax dollars?

I am suspicious of charter schools and the hucksters they attract but I don't have a problem with this and wish public schools would also put their foot down on mainstreaming and special education in ordinary schools which is a cost saving measure cynically presented as inclusion.

[madfloridian]

46. If they get public money they should take all students.

Otherwise how are they becoming the solution? That's what is being pushed on teachers as the perfect solution, yet it solves nothing.

[olegramps]

49. Your attitude seems to be misplaced.

We all know that a substantial portion of blame for the failure of students to succeed can be traced to their home life. However, you appear to support the wholly illogical concept that if a Charter School encounters this problem then it is okay to expel the kid and force the Public School System to cope with it. It appears to me that a reasonable conclusion would be that the Charter School isn't doing its job and should therefore be eliminated. Isn't it the claim of Charter Schools that they have a superior system that is an alternative to Public Schools to educate these low achieving kids? Well if this is the case then let them demonstrate it.

What is actually taking place is warfare on UNIONIZED Public School teachers under the guise of rescuing the children from incompetent Union Tenured teachers. The Republican Tea-baggers thank you for your support of their mission.

[liberal_at_heart]

63. teachers are placing blame on the wrong individuals

Teachers should be upset that public schools don't have the resources they need. They shouldn't be blaming the students. If we give up on any child then we as a society are already lost. Instead of throwing our children away why don't we fight for the resources we need to educate these children? My son is autistic and his special education class has helped him improve in his academics and social skills. If not for the special education class, my son would be much further behind and probably having behavioral problems as a result. We cannot give up on our children. If we do, what does that say about us?

[madfloridian]

75. Very good post.

We should not give up on students.

[lumberjack_jeff]

40. If it's not a social service agency, then it's not serving the public good.

Fuck 'em.

If this was my state, I wouldn't rest until those fucks are shut down.

[laughingliberal]

43. Easy to see how the public school system is being set up to look bad. nt

[murdoch]

70. Precisely, it's about statistics

You do everything you can to shift the better performing students to a charter school, and the worse performing students to a public school, and voila, the statistics show the miracle of charter schools.

Aside from the preference the politicians give it, and the taxpayer money, these schools get large donations from wealthy people. Once the public schools are dead and buried, and the economy gets sketchy, you can be sure that money will all dry up.

While the Scandinavian countries are expanding children's education, while China is pushing ahead, in the US education is being dismantled. If I had the money, I would have moved out of this shithole country a long time ago.

[cornermouse]

47. I tried to get my disabled child into a private school

back in the 80s because the public school system we lived in at the time wanted to put him in a special ed "school" (not classroom, but a "school")which I'd already found out was little more than a "warehouse" for those already in it. The private school wouldn't take him. Luckily we moved to an area with a public school system that had special ed classes under the same roof soon after that and my child was never put in the "warehouse".

Examples of the warehouse? A child, wheelchair bound and physically unable to pick up an eating utensil, was left with a plate in front of her and no help. At the end of lunch they picked up the plate and took the food away from her, untouched because she couldn't. No one seemed to notice or care. A parent who was told her child was ready to learn to read but since there were only 3 months of the school year left, there wasn't much point in teaching him/her to read. Another mother who went to see the classroom they planned to put her well behaved little girl in cried when she told me how out of control the classroom was. It was quite literally a warehouse and the possibility that these things could become the norm again is horrifying. Along the way, I met a principal (at a seminar for the disabled, no less) who thought there was no point in trying to educate disabled kids so I knew people like Klein exist but if they're being allowed to drive the train now, I'm afraid of where the train is going.

The value of a public school system that admits disabled kids? Normal kids see disabled kids every day, accept them, and don't tend to view them as strange, defective creatures, especially if the disabled child has a normal sibling in the same classroom with a would-be bully. I think it makes things a little easier for the disabled to find a place to fit later. I love the public school system we moved to and still live in. I love the teachers who taught my child. I owe them so much.

[olegramps]

50. There is nothing that can substitute for actual experience. Thanks for your input.

We had a "warehouse school" and it was finally disband and the kids placed in regular classes with additional special education. I know a person whose child had this experience. After being placed in a regular school the child progressed at least to the point that they could live independently after graduating.

[madfloridian]

59. Our area did not have one like that, thank goodness.

There was a public school for the profoundly handicapped, but it was used as a teaching environment for the local colleges and universities. The woman who founded it was right there and involved, and one of my neighbors was a teacher there.

I had a few classes there, and it truly was hard to observe some of the children. But they were treated with kindness and respect, and were taught living skills when possible.

I think they are mainstreaming now, but I have not checked.

Harlem academy's attitude is simply one of profit in my thinking. It is cheaper to believe the disabled don't exist, and besides they might bring down your test scores. They should not be getting public money.

[JackDragna]

51. If a school isn't a social service agency, it's failing.

Schools are often the first place where kids who are abused, neglected or in need of special assistance with disabilities are first noticed and get the help they need. I attended some fine public schools, and each one had a full suite of counselors, therapists and other professionals who helped the teachers evaluate students and get them the help they needed. When I went to elementary school, I had a pretty bad speech defect that my teachers caught and, with the help of others at the school, was fixed in a few years. Instead of abrogating their responsibility to the public by forcing problem kids out, schools should be adequately staffed so that kids who have real problems can get the help they need. Here's one teacher who finds the entire philosophy espoused by the people in the article to be appalling.

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. +1000

[Dappleganger]

56. Well said. nt

[madfloridian]

61. Agreed. And since that school gets public money, it is appalling.

That's a huge problem with charters. They get taxpayer money but they don't have to follow the rules.

Yes, they should be staffed so children can get the help they need. That's why I am so angry that this administration continues the policy of taking money from public schools and giving it to charters or using it for vouchers to attend private schools.

There will be little left for those who need the help.

[liberal_at_heart]

65. Perfectly stated

[mmonk]

52. The attitude I have fought much of my adult life as an advocate.

[knitter4democracy]

53. I work with those kinds of kids every day.

People with that kind of attitude can kiss my ass. I have the honor and privilege of teaching in an alternative high school (we're a charter run by the local school district, so we have the best of both worlds), and many of our kids have IEPs. All of our students have special needs of one kind or another. We do a good job of graduating most of them, giving kids a positive, safe environment in which to learn.

How do we do it? Smaller class sizes, more one-on-one time with teachers and paraprofessionals, individualized instruction, a principal who does home visits and knows each student very well, a fabulous counselor with a huge set of resources at his disposal to help kids with, and amazing students who know this is their last chance to get a high school diploma and that they're all struggling. It's not perfect, and it's not easy, but it's the best place for these kids that I've ever seen (and I subbed in other alternative schools before getting the job here--not all alternative schools are alike).

[nxylas]

57. I checked to see if he was talking about mainstreaming

After all, there are people who believe, for perfectly respectable reasons, that children with special needs are best served by placing them in regular classes rather than (as they see it) ghettoizing them. But this dude really does seem to think that kids with learning disabilities just need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Wow.

[lumberjack_jeff]

58. They're not mutually exclusive

My son has an IEP and the special ed teachers are doing a good job of helping him to work within the general ed environment to the greatest degree possible.

The person in the OP is simply saying "there's no such thing as a disability" because it's more profitable to pretend that there isn't.

[mistertrickster]

60. I'm not a big believer in "special ed." Translation--we're not gonna pay for it. nt

[tonysam]

62. Translation: You get public money, you follow the law

or face a big-time lawsuit in federal court.

[madfloridian]

71. Exactly right.

[madfloridian]

64. This has had 7 unrecs. Disabilities in children are real....so why?

Under Just recs...

General Discussion
Harlem Success Charter leader: “I’m not a big believer in special ed"
50 recs : By madfloridian

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=greatest_threads&topten=1

Disabilities exist, they are real. 6 unrecs is denial?

[liberal_at_heart]

66. I'd be using the American Disabilities Act to sue the hell out of these charters

We have disability laws in this country for a reason. It is to protect the disabled from people like this. And private industry is not immune from the ADA either. Businesses have to accomodate disabled employees. Private and charter schools should have to as well.

[sulphurdunn]

67. $$$$$$

The charter school movement is of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Charter schools are just another battlefield in the great American class war. The current weapon of choice for this profitable excursion into venture philanthropy is poor minority kids.

[madfloridian]

69. Jeez, I just turned on MSNBC for a minute. They were pushing charter schools...

and vouchers. The black guy made a blanket statement about NJ charter schools, the anchor did not ask him his source...just said parents would be demanding the best.

The guy said they were not going to wait any longer.

I had quit watching any cable news during the day. Is that what MSNBC has become?

[waiting for hope]

78. Remember the outrage when Bush proposed vouchers?

I can't believe this is being viewed as positive.

K&R on the OP.

[Richd506]

72. this makes my blood boil

[madfloridian]

74. My anger is growing because our party refuses to address it.

They are just letting it go on and on.

[KamaAina]

73. Who is this guy, Michael Savage??

This is one way that charters achieve their spectacular* success rates: by cherry-picking only the most motivated students and leaving the other children behind -- especially those with disabilities. :grr: :banghead:

[erodriguez]

76. Charter schools need to be regulated

[madfloridian]

77. Really great graphic.

Thanks for sharing that.

NY public schools don't stand a chance with Bloomberg, Klein, and Moskowitz after them.

:hi:

[Joey Liberal]

79. This guy is a JERK. nt

[Deep13]

80. Expensive educational services: still cheaper than prison.

This country is happily committing suicide.